Handing out midseason awards for the Mariners

Michael Pineda has been the Mariners' most valuable player this season. (Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)

With the All-Star break upon us and the Mariners drifting unsurprisingly from contention, it’s a good time to take a look at the first half(ish) of the season and offer our evaluation of who did what the best for this team.

Here’s a hint: the pitchers get high marks. They were pretty good. So good that they’re on pace to be the most effective starting rotation in franchise history.

The hitters? Not so much. They were pretty bad. So bad that they’re on pace to produce an offensive output even worse than last season’s (last year’s very bad offense had scored 309 runs after its first 91 games; this year’s very bad offense has just 301).

Yes, the most valuable player on the Mariners’ roster the first half of the season was a rookie pitcher whose spot in the starting rotation wasn’t even a sure thing when spring training began.

And while most associate the label of MVP with an offensive player, it’s rather difficult to look at the Mariners lineup and identify a player whose performance the first of the year was ultra-essential to their cause.

Not Ichiro, who still leads the team with a sub-standard .270 batting average (Dustin Ackley is hitting .304, but he’s only played 20 games) but missed out on the All-Star game for the first time in his career.

Not Justin Smoak, who leads the team in homers, RBI and on-base percentage but has struggled to find any consistency and is hitting just .229.

Really, the only every-day guy who got any consideration was Adam Kennedy, as absurd as that sounds. He’s currently slumping — 11 for his last 59 — and entered the break hitting .259, down from .299 at the beginning of June. Still, the fact that he’s been the most reliable bat in the lineup from day one this season speaks volumes about how pathetic this team’s offense has been.

So, Pineda it is. This award could really go to the entire starting staff, but since Pineda has the best across-the-board numbers and has established himself as a fine complement to Felix Hernandez, he gets the nod.

(Hernandez, obviously, also deserves mention. Pineda’s numbers have been slightly better, but what makes Hernandez a Cy-Young caliber guy is his ability to continue to eat innings despite some shaky appearances through this first half. That means a lot to the bullpen. That said, Pineda has pitched just a bit better, in my opinion.)

Some more evidence of Pineda’s historic first half: he’s the first rookie in Mariners history to strike out 100 or more batters before the All-Star break, and just the fourth rookie pitcher in the majors the last 25 years to achieve that feat.

Also, “valuable” here means more than just his contributions on the field. As Dave Cameron so notoriously opined over at MyNorthwest.com, Pineda is also accumulating value in terms of how much talent other teams would be willing to part with in order to trade for him.

Not saying Cameron is dead-on in saying the Mariners should try to trade their promising rookie. But the point stands that Pineda’s first half has not only been good enough to help Seattle stick around the AL West much longer than a team of its caliber should, he’s also attracting more attention from all corners of the baseball world than anyone could have predicted prior to the season.

Another unconventional choice, maybe. And for the record, Franklin Gutierrez would be the hands-down, runaway winner here had he not missed the first 41 games of the season with a stomach illness. The guy hasn’t made an error this season, and despite his struggles at the plate and battle with irritable bowel syndrome, Gutierrez has still managed to turn in his share of “wow” plays in center field.

But Ryan has been steady all season and spectacular often enough to earn a little recognition for what he’s brought to the shortstop position.

His fielding percentage is seventh in the American League at his position, but it’s the plays that he makes look routine that make him the first-half gold-glove winner for me. Those slow rollers up the middle that he gloves on the run before firing to first base. The hard-hit balls to his left that he snags cleanly before planting and throwing strong across the diamond. His quick turns on double-plays (he’s been a part of 56 of them) and ability to adapt to a revolving door of players occupying the second-base position.

Ryan’s heady play this year has been a calming force for a Mariners infield that has quite a few moving parts.

No-brainer here. Ackley has done exactly what Mariners fans had (desperately) hoped he would — he’s hit, and he hasn’t stopped.

And it’s not just that Ackley has been the team’s most exciting, consistent hitter since his call-up. He’s also played a nearly flawless second base, and has shown base-running instincts well beyond his experience level.

Since day one in the majors, Ackley has looked like he belonged. And even with the Mariners mired in a five-game slide and 7.5 games out of first place in the middle of July, Ackley is giving people reason to come out to the park.

Under most circumstances, Jack Cust (.211 BA, three homers in 249 plate appearances) would have had a pretty good shot at this one. But Figgins’ mind-boggling ineptitude cannot be ignored. Not only has he failed to produce at every turn, but his value is now so low that despite being in year two of a four-year, $36 million contract, Figgins is essentially the team’s third option at third base and is destined to be designated for assignment in the very near future.